Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi

Charities and Causes

Stop War Start Tennis, founded by Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi, is dedicated to promoting peace through tennis. The Foundation aims to use the sport as a bridge to unite communities and nations that have been torn apart by conflict to reconcile their differences and heal the wounds of war.

Qureshi has served as UNDP National Goodwill Ambassador for Early Recovery since 2010, and raises funds for flood-affected victims through his family’s Haq Foundation. He is also a member of “Champions for Peace”, through which athletes aspire to help disadvantaged communities through sport.

Highlights

Qureshi visits numerous project sites through Stop War Start Tennis, partaking in a meet and greet, on-court tennis activity, and official meeting to discuss how the project can be further developed. “Whether it be wheelchair tennis projects, amputee centres, or displaced peoples and orphanages, I truly believe that our great sport of tennis can bring some joy and happiness into the lives of the young and old,” says Qureshi.

In 2012, he travelled to Iraq, where he met with a victim of sectarian violence and visited a club specifically created for handicapped athletes; Sri Lanka, to back a wheelchair tennis program through which amputee soldiers are rehabilitated back into society; and Cambodia, to support the Killing Fields to Tennis Courts campaign that allows children to play tennis in areas cleared of landmines. Qureshi also revisited Peshawar in his home country of Pakistan, where he is attempting to revive the local tennis club following its destruction by those displaced by the Taliban.

A recipient of an inaugural ATP ACES For Charity grant in 2011, Qureshi donated $10,000 to support the United Nations Development Program’s flood recovery efforts in Pakistan. He raised additional funds by auctioning memorabilia collected from ATP World Tour players including Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray. He visited the areas ravaged by the 2010 floods through his role as UNDP Ambassador.

At the end of 2012, it was announced that in 2013, Stop War Start Tennis will receive a $10,000 grant from ATP ACES For Charity.